Symphony
by sharingank
Summary: Sesshomaru left Rin behind thriteen years ago to pursue a personal quest..now he has returned, but how long can a human heart endure the pain?


I love Rin and Fluffy...they're so cute! This is my first Inu-Yasha fic, so hopefully it isn't too bad...most of my other stories are Naruto based...oh well. I hope you all like it!

* * *

**Symphony  
**

Rin straightened up with a wince, putting her hand to the small of her back. She'd been bent over that year's harvest for the past four hours, and she felt stiff and old. The sun beat down upon her exposed flesh, and she could tell that her skin was burnt. Jaken was close by, gathering up vegetables in a basket. Rin smiled. After Sesshomaru had left them, Jaken served as her caretaker, and she looked upon him as a second father. A sudden gust of wind whipped at the girl's long, dark hair, and she turned her face up to the sky. Jaken happened to look up from his work to see Rin standing there, and his heart constricted: she resembled a fallen angel, all of her sorrow manifest in her features.

"My poor girl," he said to himself, sighing. It had been nearly thirteen years since last either had seen Sesshomaru, and he knew that Rin never managed to get over his abrupt departure.

_"But where are you going, Sesshomaru-sama? Won't you stay with me?" Rin begged, tears streaming from her eyes.  
"No, Rin." Sesshomaru said, kneeling to hold her by the shoulders. "I have things that I must do, and I cannot do them here. Jaken shall take care of you now."  
"NO!" Rin sobbed. "Please, let me come with you! I promise I won't get in your way! I'll be good, I swear!"  
The demon in him wanted to shove this vile girl away, to leave her broken and alone without looking back, but the other part, the part that had come to care for this child, prevented him from doing so. Instead, Sesshomaru enfolded her in his arms and allowed her tears to soak through the fabric covering his chest. "Forgive me, Rin. You will be safer here." Gently, he pried himself away from her and stood, looking every bit as cold and distant as usual. With one last glance at Jaken, Sesshomaru turned and began to walk away. Rin tried to run after him, but Jaken held her fast. He was just as upset as she to be left behind, but he knew that for whatever reason, it would be better this way. The little girl collapsed against him, weeping, and Jaken stroked her hair.  
"There, there," he whispered in a soothing tone. "Everything will be fine, you'll see."  
_

Jaken shook his head. They had settled at the farm soon after, and while Rin slowly recovered from her loss, she was not the same free- spirited girl that she once was. Her eyes no longer sparkled; her smile did not light her face. It pained Jaken to see her altered so, and he loathed the fact that he could do nothing to ease her suffering. She was as good as his own flesh and blood, and he wanted nothing more than for her to be happy. As if she sensed his eyes on her, Rin turned her head and raised an eyebrow.

"Were you thinking of what a tragic victim I am?" She said in an ironic voice, tucking her hair behind her ear. She smiled at Jaken's sheepish expression, and picked up her own basket. The tiny demon mirrored her action, and followed her as she headed back up the fields to the small house that sat surrounded by trees. Home.

Jaken got a closer look at her when they entered the house, and he clucked his tongue. "Come here, girl. We need to put something on that skin." He clucked his tongue again as Rin sat before him on a low stool while he slathered a pinkish lotion on her burns. "You shouldn't have been out that long." He scolded.

"I'm sorry," she said, and patted Jaken's cheek fondly. "That was rather foolish of me, wasn't it?"

Jaken, thrown off kilter by her show of affection, felt his sternness dissolve. "Well, you'll know better next time, my dear. Go and wash up, now, and I'll fix you something to eat."

"Thank you," Rin replied, and headed out to the well in the front of the house to rinse her hands and face. Ever since he had taken her under his wing, Jaken had grown accustomed to human food, and he was quite adept in the kitchen, coming up with a variety of interesting dishes that Rin enjoyed. She closed her eyes as the water flowed over her outstretched hands, cool and refreshing. After she splashed a bit of it on her face, Rin went back inside, where the aroma of simmering vegetables invaded her senses. She was shooed out of the kitchen, having been forbidden by Jaken to do any more work, so she settled herself at her loom in the main room of the house and began to weave a blanket.

The night passed lazily after they had eaten, Jaken losing himself in an oversized book, and Rin with her loom. The demon retired to bed before she, and Rin wished him goodnight before walking out onto the porch, the evening breeze playfully kissing her cheeks. She had grown to love this house, and the farm, and the life that she led, but there was still something missing. A piece of her heart had been ripped away so many years ago, leaving a gaping hole that never healed. Though she had only known her savior for a few short years before he abandoned her, she had been branded by his presence, unable to rid herself of his memory. He was no more than a specter now, a whisper of a dream that haunted her in her sleep. Unbidden, tears began to flow from her eyes, and she held her head in her hands.

"Why did you leave me?" She whispered in anguish. "Did you despise me that much, Sesshomaru?"

The sky began to weep with her, large, wet drops falling to the ground and splattering as they made contact with the surface, but she did not notice. Her grief had overpowered her, and she cried, letting out all of the pain that she had kept bottled inside for so long.  
  


* * *

A lone figure made his way through the rain, oblivious to the wetness that saturated his clothing and hair. He had stopped at a few other villages before finding this one, but he knew in his heart that his search was over. There was a feel to the air that he recognized, a scent that he knew so well, yet had not been exposed to for years. 

"She is here," he said, and continued up the sloping hill, the scent growing stronger with every step he took. Off to the side, he saw fields that looked to have been recently stripped of crops, and ahead of him was a house no bigger than a cottage. His sharp eyes picked out a shape on the porch, and he began to walk faster.

Rin felt her head rise of its own accord, as if some invisible force was forcing her to look, and she barely made out a shape moving closer to her, and her jaw went slack. She could not make herself believe what she was seeing, and feared that she was losing her mind. It cannot be him...it just cannot be... The figure came ever closer, and she heard his voice then.

"Rin!" He called, his voice penetrating through the rain.

She was frozen. Her name. He had called her name.

"Rin!"

Again. The spell broken, she jumped from the porch and ran blindly, slipping and sliding through the slick grass, her hair flying. A few seconds later, she slammed against a body as hard as a tree trunk.

"Rin!" Sesshomaru cried, wrapping his arms around her and lifting her off her feet. Rin held on tightly and buried her face against his neck, sobbing.

"You came back," she whispered. "You came back to me."

"Yes." Sesshomaru began to carry her back to the house, Rin still clinging fiercely to him. He was in shock as to how much she had grown. She was no longer a child, but a woman. Old feelings that he had locked away began to surface as he held her, as well as some new ones, only these were primal, sinister. He realized that he wanted her, wanted to throw her down and ravage her, to tear off her clothing and have his way with her. If she had been anyone else, he would not have thought twice about giving in to his desire, but she was Rin, his little one, the child that had saved him, and whom he had saved. He would never do such a thing to her.

Entering the house, he set her down, and wrapped a blanket that he found draped over a chair around her shoulders: she was shivering. Rin's dark eyes locked with his, and he could feel a twinge somewhere in his heart. She had an ethereal beauty that reminded him of a goddess, and he forced himself to look down. A cool hand rested against his cheek for a second, and then it was gone. Rin went to the hearth and lit a fire, sitting before it on a mat. Hesitating, Sesshomaru joined her.

"Did you do whatever it is set out to do?" She asked, her voice distant. Now that she was over the shock of seeing him again, an anger that she had never before felt began to rise in her. She gripped the blanket so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

Sesshomaru did not miss her change in countenance. "Rin," he began, but she cut him off.

"Why are you here?" She asked, staring at the dancing flames. "Did you come to take something else from me? What will it be this time? My innocence, perhaps? And then, when you have finished with me, you will toss me aside and be on your way again, is that it?"

Jaken had woken when he heard voices in the next room, and he stood in the doorway, having mastered his surprise at his master's return, listening to the conversation, his eyes narrowed.

Before Sesshomaru could say a word, Rin stood and ran out the door, not knowing where she was headed, but needing to be as far away as possible. Sesshomaru would have gone after her had Jaken not spoke up.

"Let her go," he said, taking Rin's spot on the mat.

"She's human! She'll get sick if she stays out in the rain!" Sesshomaru snapped.

"Her world was turned upside down the moment you left," Jaken replied quietly. "Thirteen years to a human is a long time. She does not understand why you left her. Just let her be, for now."  
Sesshomaru did not like the idea of Rin out by herself in this weather, but he remained where he was. "You do know why I went away, don't you?"

"Yes," Jaken said. "And did you find what you were looking for?"

"No," Sesshomaru said bitterly. "I accomplished nothing."

"Perhaps," the tiny demon began, catching Sesshomaru's eye, "perhaps, the thing you are seeking has been here all along." With that, he stood, and left his master to mull that over, returning to his room.  
  


* * *

Rin ended up at a small lake in the woods near the farm. The rain had stopped, and the air was muggy. Her heart beat rapidly against her chest, and she pounded her fists against the grass in frustration. Hadn't she wanted him to come back? Hadn't she wanted him to take her in his arms, to tell her he loved her, to stay with her forever? Every dream, every wish...why was she so angry? Her mind jumped from one thought to the next, exhausting her to the point that she fell asleep, not caring that the ground was wet, or that she was alone and unprotected...  
  
The next morning dawned bright and clear, birds twittering in the trees, chipmunks and squirrels racing through the brush for their breakfasts. Rin's eyes cracked open, and she sat up, dazed, remembering where she was and what had happened the night before. She felt dirty. Her eyes went to the crystal blue lake. Getting to her feet, she stripped herself of clothing and took a deep breath before diving in. The cold stabbed her like a knife, but she soon became used to it, swimming in laps back and forth across the length of the lake. At one point, she floated still on her back, closing her eyes and letting the sun shine upon her. 

* * *

Sesshomaru had been so shaken by Jaken's words that he did not move from his spot by the fire until morning, when he came to his senses. Following Rin's scent, he tracked her to the lake, and arrived just in time to glimpse her in the water, nude, her eyes closed. The primal hunger returned as he watched her, his arousal reaching the point where he did not think he would be able to control it for much longer. Yet, while he wanted her physically, he felt something else spring to life inside of him, a feeling that he once scorned. His own father had fallen prey to it, as did his bastard half-breed of a brother. Sesshomaru had sworn that he would never stoop to their level, and that he was above such idiotic nonsense. 

But.

_"Perhaps the thing you are seeking has been here all along."  
_

Jaken's words rang through his head. What if he was right? Without any more hesitation, Sesshomaru waded into the water, still fully clothed. Rin had detected another presence in the woods, and she opened her eyes, seeing Sesshomaru headed straight for her. Her heart raced. She was naked, but there was no time to cover herself. He had already seen her, anyway, so there was no point. Instead, she planted her feet on the bottom of the lake, and faced him, most of her chest and midriff exposed.

"So, you are still here, then." She said, looking straight at him. Sesshomaru blinked.

"Yes." It was difficult to keep his eyes away from her bosom, and he found that he had to rely on every ounce of willpower he possessed. "I am not leaving again, Rin."

"Is that so? Found something else to your fancy, have you?" The words left her mouth before she could stop them, and she bit the inside of her lip until it bled.

Sesshomaru did not react as she expected, however. Faster than she could breathe, he had her in his arms with his mouth crushed against hers, and she could do nothing but let him support her. His tongue was insistent, forcing itself into her mouth, tasting her blood. At that moment Sesshomaru drew away: if he had continued, the blood would have driven him over the edge. His breathing was ragged when he held her chin and spoke to her.

"I left so that I could find myself, Rin. But when I was away from you, I felt...empty, lost. I was searching in vain for something, anything to make me whole, but I found nothing, Rin. Not a single blasted thing."

Rin's heart began to pound even harder. Why was he saying these things? "I-"

"You are the only thing that makes me happy, Rin." Sesshomaru said in reply to her confused expression.

"You are a demon," she said softly. "I am a human. I know how you feel about my kind. We are weak. I would only hold you back."

Sesshomaru replied by kissing her again, taking his time to prove to her how he felt. "I don't care what you are," he whispered, resting his forehead against hers. "What is the use of having power if it means nothing? I was a fool before, Rin. I was selfish. And I know that it is selfish of me to ask you to forgive me, but I am asking you despite that."

Rin had believed that she could not shed another tear, yet more began to fall as she looked up into Sesshomaru's face. He was not lying. He meant every word that he said. "Of course I forgive you," she murmured through her tears. "How could I not? I've loved you since I was a little girl, and I love you still." It was she who kissed him this time, and they stood, locked together in the water for what seemed like hours. Sesshomaru claimed her that day, drawing her out of the lake and lying with her in the grass, sinking his teeth into her neck as he made love to her. She was his now, and only death would part them again.

* * *

Jaken smiled knowingly when he saw Rin and Sesshomaru return from the woods. He saw the bite on Rin's neck, and winked at Sesshomaru before heading out to the field to bring in the rest of the crop that he and Rin missed the day before, whistling to himself as he went.

* * *

Well, there it is! Tell me what you think, please? 


End file.
